NEW YORK — Journalism and the feminist movement suffered a huge loss with the passing of Mary Thom, said co-founders of The Women’s Media Center.

Mary Thom, an author, editor, and journalist who edited the Women’s Media Center Features, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Yonkers Friday, April 26. An early and long-time editor of Ms. magazine, she wrote and consulted for a number of non-profit women’s organizations, including the National Council for Research on Women. Her books include Inside Ms.: 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement and Letters to Ms.: 1972-1987. She is editor, with Suzanne Braun Levine, of an oral history, Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, Rallied Against War and for the Planet, and Shook Up Politics Along the Way). She also was editor of a book by Rosalie Maggio,Unspinning the Spin. How to Say What You Mean and De-Code the Hype, which will be released later this fall.

“We are shaken and reeling at the sudden passing of our irreplaceable editor-in-chief, Mary Thom,” said Julie Burton, president of The Women’s Media Center. “Mary was one of the great writers, editors, and visionaries of the women's movement, and the heart and soul of Women’s Media Center’s features writing. From her work in the early days of Ms. Magazine hers was a clear, strong voice for equality—and her editorial talents lifted so many other voices as well." Mary edited three features a week of writing by women journalists on important issues that provide progressive women’s perspectives on both headlines and timely events ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media.

Mary spent her childhood in Akron, Ohio, but lived the next 48 years on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She is survived by her sister Susan Thom Loubet, her nephew Thom Loubet and niece-in-law Mariko Silver, and grand-niece Kumi Silver Loubet."

The Women’s Media Center works to make women and girls visible and powerful in the media through strategic programs that transform the media landscape, and that include media training, media monitoring and activism, media reports, media programs, and special initiatives. The Women’s Media Center also produces original media content on our CBS radio show, Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan, and publishes Women’s Media Center Features that provide progressive women’s perspectives on both headline stories and timely events. The organization was founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem.

For more information: -- Cristal Williams, cristal@womensmediacenter.com or 202-587-1636.